CLASSIC AMERICAN PEOPLE Allen Grant Shelby Racer
When I was a little boy my mum used to say: “Those who ask don’t get.” As I grew up I found the opposite to be true. In January 1963, Allen Grant from Modesto, California was a 23-year-old promising race car driver, full of self-belief. During a college break he drove to Carroll Shelby’s workshop and told him: “I want to race for you.” Shelby asked him if he’d raced before and Allen proudly told him that he’d just won 12 out of 14 races in his own, self-prepared AC Ace Bristol, the car upon which Shelby’s Cobra was based. Allen was crowned 1962 SCCA West Coast sports-car champion and Rookie of the Year. Shelby listened and then told him that he didn’t need any more drivers as he already had Dan Gurney, Bob Bondurant and Lew Spencer on his team. But could he weld? “Yes, I can,” Allen replied. He’d got his foot in the door.
He was mechanically minded and had been working on and modifying his own cars since his dad Wilbur bought him a 1950 Pontiac Catalina when he was 16. After driving a friend’s MGA, Allen wanted a sports car. He bought a brand new 1959 Austin Healey 3000 and started competing in local autocross and driving tests. He says: “I could win my class in the Healey, but a guy from a nearby town had an AC Ace Bristol and whenever he showed up, he could set
